Be True
by Muse's Inspiration
Summary: Sarah finally gathers the nerve to ask about the future.


**Author:** Muse  
**Rating:** General  
**Prompt:** BE TRUE  
**Character(s):** Derek, Sarah, John, Kate  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own T:SCC or anything associated with it. It is the sole property of FOX and Friedman. I am making no profit from this.  
**Summary:** Sarah finally gets up the nerve to ask about the John from the future.  
**Author's Note(s):** This is in response to WizeFic's prompt for her Candy Hearts Challenge.  
**BETA Credit:** As always, done by the loverly **dhark_charlotte**.

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Derek sat in the darkened living room, drinking the beer that he felt he had more than earned. The bite of the liquid ambrosia and the quiet gave him the solace to contemplate how things seemed to get more and more clustered the longer he stayed in this time. It felt that no matter what he did, nothing was changed. He could feel it creeping up on him; the impending sense of inevitability hanging over him, smothering him.

So caught up in his dark mental wanderings, he didn't notice that Sarah had entered the living room and settled down with a beer of her own. She sighed softly and his head turned with a quick snap to focus on her and she avoided eye contact at first, looking down at her hands clasping the cold beer. She took a deep breath and looked up at him, meeting his eyes for a second before frowning slightly. Derek narrowed his eyes, wondering why she was sitting in the dark with him. Normally, Sarah avoided him; to have her seek him out was something of an unusual occurrence.

"What is he like?"

The question took him by surprise. "What? Who?" He was about to start describing Kyle when she took him by surprise again.

"John. In the future... what's he like?" she frowned again and glanced away, taking a deep pull on the beer as if to bolster her courage. Swallowing, she cleared her throat and whispered quietly, "I just... Derek, I need to know what kind of man he becomes."

Derek watched her for a moment in silence. He wasn't sure how to respond. He huffed out a sigh and sat forward slightly in his chair, thinking how to best describe the John of the future and then it hit him.

"To understand John, Sarah, you need to know about Kate."

She looked at him in surprise. "Kate? Who's Kate?"

"Kate is... well, was, John's wife. In the future. They met when John was in Middle School." Derek trailed off, frowning. "Kate used to tell me how he made things interesting at the parties." He took a deep swallow of beer. "Who knows how things are going to go now."

Sarah sat back in her seat, contemplating what he had just told her. "How did you know her?"

Derek smirked. "Well, Kyle may have worshipped John Connor... but me? – I could relate more to Kate Connor. Kyle and John would spend hours together, talking... I know now why John would spend so much time with Kyle. Kate would wander off, let them be alone. I'd usually hunt her down and we'd talk. She..." Derek trailed off, lost in his memories for a moment. Clearing his throat, Derek began again, "Kate told me this story once about her and John on some Valentine's Day after the war began. Apparently he had found this bag of candy somewhere; stashed away in some locker or something. But anyways," Derek paused, took another drag on the bottle and then continued, "it was a bag of that really awful candy hearts... you know, the stuff that always tasted like chalk?" he trailed off and looked at Sarah and she nodded in remembrance. "Anyways... he found this candy. And things were tough then, you know? So he takes the hearts out and starts making a message for her to follow... you know, I 3 U, BE MINE, etc... and places them where she has to follow the hearts in order to get the whole message."

He stopped for a moment and was again lost in memories. Sarah watched him closely, hearing what he wasn't saying.

"So she gets to the last one... and it says BE TRUE. And she's confused, you know? Is _she_ supposed to BE TRUE? What? How could she be anything _but_ true when it's just them? And that's when John appears from another part of the bunker and explains to her that no matter what happens to them, no matter what the future holds for them, no matter how he appears to others, he will always BE TRUE to her, to Kate. He will always be just 'John Connor' with her..."

Derek trailed off and looked at Sarah. "She always told me that was when she truly felt her destiny as John's wife, Sarah. That was when she knew she loved him no matter what was in their future to come. Kate said she'd follow him anywhere he led her. And she knew he'd always keep her safe."

Sarah broke the gaze that Derek had trapped her with. She could see the emotion in his eyes. "So what are you telling me, Derek?"

Derek laughed softly. "I'm telling you that while he was an asshole at times and I never felt we were getting the whole story from the man, you could look at Kate and tell that there was a whole other side to him. And that..." Derek sat back in his seat with his beer, "that is why he was followed so blindly. That is why he became the Savior of Mankind." He sighed and looked towards the back of the house where said future leader was doing his biology homework. "He's a good man, Sarah. I have my issues with him, I may not agree with him, but anyone that could make Kate fall in love with him to that degree, has to be the best of men."

He heard her sniff slightly and he looked at her closely, spying the reddened eyes. She glanced at him and grimaced out an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry." She said softly. "I... I just needed to know." She breathed deeply and stood up. She looked out the window for a short moment and then turned and started towards the kitchen, pausing as she neared the doorway.

"Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"...yeah. No problem." And he went to back to drinking his beer.


End file.
